beef samosas

Around the World in 12 Dishes: Kenya

This month as part of our cooking around the world, we’re studying Kenya. I really struggled with finding a dish I thought everyone would like.  Finally I found a recipe for beef samosas that might be popular.

Beef Samosas Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
Chili to taste
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp fresh ginger root
2 Tablespoons chopped mint
Juice of 1 lemon
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
Salt and pepper to taste

My big goal for this month: teach the kids how to use a knife, so they did all of the chopping.

teach your kids how to use a knife

Rules for using a knife

  1. You must be tall enough to use it without a step stool or chair, if you need a chair to reach the counter, you are not old enough.
  2. You only use sharp knives with Mom’s permission and Mom right there, if Mom can still cut herself, then you might, and you need supervision.
  3. Watch where the blade is, and where fingers are.
  4. I taught them to put their fingers on either side of where it is cutting with lots of space around when making big cuts.  I know this is not the official way, but this has worked for me for years.
  5. When it is smaller cuts.  Put the heel of the hand not holding the knife handle on the flat of the blade, and use it to apply extra force and push the blade down.  If your fingers are on top of the blade, they are not under it. (see picture below)

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So, I went through this with all of the kids.  They were somewhat impressed, but they each cut up an onion quarter into little bitty bits without hurting themselves.

Making Kenyan Beef Samosas

1.  Dice onions into ridiculously small bits. (see rules for using a knife).  Sautee onions and garlic (I used pre-minced jar garlic).  Add in the spices haphazardly as you find them.

making beef samosas

2.  Add beef, and cook thoroughly.  Princess really was not sure about the smell of the spices.

2. When cooked add in the juice from a lemon, or if you don’t have that, pour in a splash of lemon juice from your frig.  I’m sure that’s the same thing.  Then, add some mint extract, I’m sure that is not at all the same as mint leaves.  But, I don’t have mint leaves.  I do have mint extract.

 

While that is cooking, look at the ingredients for the pastry, and notice it’s the same as a pie crust, so decide to use a pre-made pie crust that is in your frig already, this will not backfire at all.

making beef samosas

So, I cut the pie crust in fourths and let the kids add a heaping spoonful to the mixture.  I heated some oil to cook them in (more on that in a minute).  Sealed it up and dropped it in the pan.

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Yeah…….  That’s what happened to the first one.  It fell apart in the pan.  Then about the time I got to the second samosa I ran out of oil, completely and totally and started searching for all sorts of alternatives.  I found some………  Just not a lot.

 

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Then we ran out of pie crust, so I used a pizza crust, which stayed together better, but tasted completely different.

 

At the end of the meal poor Jeff looked at me with tear-filled eyes (I made that part up out of whole cloth), and said, “Why are you torturing us?  Why? Why?”  (Okay, I made this completely up, but the recipe was a dismal flop).

I seem to run about an every other recipe for doing well with Around the World in 12 Dishes, it’s kinda depressing.

kenya lapbook

Then a few days later we made our lapbook.  I REALLY wanted to spend some time learning about Anansi, and making a spider, but the kids and I are getting ready to go out of town, and I have SOOOOOO much to do in that time.

Adventures In Mommydom, All Done Monkey, Crafty Moms Share, Creative Family Fun, Creative World of Varya, Glittering Muffins, Here Come The Girls, Juggling with Kids, Kid World Citizen, Kitchen Counter Chronicles, Mermaids’ Makings, The Educators’ Spin On It and The Hands-On Homeschooler. have come together to help you on your food journey and will each cook a dish with our children and post about it – to help inspire you to have a go! Then go out there, cook, blog, and join in the linky fun!




Comments

11 responses to “Around the World in 12 Dishes: Kenya”

  1. I know what you mean about recipe flops and I also know what you mean about planning to do something and it not working out into the schedule. You are not alone.

    1. It was soooo frustrating. I’m hoping next month on Egypt will go better.

  2. maryanne @ mama smiles Avatar
    maryanne @ mama smiles

    I hate when meals don’t turn out. At least your kids got some education out of it!

    1. That they did. I keep thinking someday I’ll try a dish and it will turn out perfectly. Of course then the world might end in shock.

  3. Your culinary adventures always crack me up. These flops happened to me too before with new dishes, but in principle samosas sound very interesting!

    1. That’s what I thought, we’ve done a similar dish with materials we like as stuffing and that was a big hit. And then I baked it, which turned out much better…….. Probably should have done that.

  4. Unfamiliar dishes are extremely hard to make…but at least your game to give it a try!

    1. Yep, that’s what I keep telling myself.

  5. LOL at the Jeff comment! Sorry it didn’t turn out!

  6. So sorry it didn’t go well but happy the kids learned knife skills. Also happy of your participation, thanks again 🙂

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